Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Dec 30: At the Yonex Sunrise India Open badminton competition, which will be held in New Delhi from January 17 to 22, Indian men’s singles players were dealt a difficult draw with Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, and HS Prannoy all clubbed together in the same quarter.
PV Sindhu, a former world champion and double Olympic medalist, will compete in the BWF World Tour event, which has been moved up to the Super 750 category this year, against Supanida Katethong in the opening round.
In the meantime, world number 31-ranked Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede of Denmark will be the opponents for defending champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as they open their men’s doubles campaign.
As the first significant test in their title defence, the fifth-seeded team would aim for a potential quarterfinal matchup against top seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan.
The trio of Srikanth, Prannoy, and Sen will represent India in the competition, but according to the draw, only one of them can go past the last eight opponents, which also include Viktor Axelsen, the current world and Olympic champion, Shi Yu Qi, and Kento Momota of Japan.
The reigning champion Sen will start his campaign against fellow countryman Prannoy, and the winner of that match will probably face Momota, who is hoping to make a comeback in 2023 after having a difficult year.
Former champion Srikanth must defeat top seed Axelsen in the first round to advance to a potential matchup with Shi, who has made a successful recovery after being out for nearly 10 months.
In a rematch of their semi-final match from the previous year, which the Indian lost in three games, fifth seed Sindhu will take on Kathethong. The former world champion, who has been sidelined since the Commonwealth Games in August because of a heel ailment, might face Chen Yufei in the quarterfinals.
Saina Nehwal, a former world number one who had a forgettable season due to injury, will face Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark to open her campaign.
